COVID-19 Update December 24

COVID-19 Update December 24

Total: 1,295 confirmed cases in Salem
Salem’s Positivity Rate for the past 2 weeks: 13.0%
1 out of 23 Salem residents have been infected
Salem today: 8 new cases since yesterday; 190 active cases

• • • • • • Report from NH Department of Health and Human Services (NH DHHS) • • • • • •

From today’s Press Release from NH DHHS: “On Thursday, December 24, 2020, DHHS announced 417 new positive test results for COVID-19, for a daily PCR test positivity rate of 5.8%. Today’s case count is lower than expected due to implementation of a new data process and will be updated in the next daily update on Saturday, 12/26. Today’s results include 368 people who tested positive by PCR test and 49 who tested positive by antigen test. There are now 5,888 current COVID-19 cases diagnosed in New Hampshire. Of the results reported today:

12/19: 29 new cases today, for an updated total of 747 cases
12/20: 14 new cases today, for an updated total of 546 cases
12/21: 2 new cases today, for an updated total of 439 cases
12/22: 114 new cases today, for an updated total of 428 cases
12/23: 258 new cases

Test results for previous days are still being processed and the total number of new positives for those days are not yet complete. Updated case counts for prior days will be reflected on the COVID-19 interactive dashboard.”

• • • • • • Community Transmission • • • • • •

Average Positivity Rate over 7 days:
- New Hampshire: 8.4%
- Rockingham County: 9.8%
- Salem: 13.0%
- Manchester: 11.1%
- Nashua: 9.8%
- 21 communities have a positivity rate higher than Salem.
- 44 communities have a positivity rate of more than 10%.
- 104 communities have a positivity rate of more than 5%.
- 116 communities have a positivity rate of more than 2%.

• • • • • • TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT • • • • • •

Salem had “only” 8 new cases reported today. It was November 22, more than a month ago, since we had a day with fewer new cases.
898 people in NH were reported as “recovered,” including some from Salem. Our active cases are back under 200 for the first time since December 13.
NH “only” added 417 new cases today, the lowest since the day before Thanksgiving. [I’m hoping that this isn’t a trend: low numbers the day before a major holiday.]
There were more test results returned today than we’ve had since Friday.
The daily PCR positivity rate for today was 5.8%. The daily average for the past week is 5.7%. [(5.5+4.6+5.9+7.3+6.7+5.2+4.6)/7].
The 7-Day Total Test Positivity Rate is 8.4. [Positive Antigen and PCR Tests over the last 7 days: 4,195. Total Antigen and PCR Tests over the last 7 days: 49,895]
Two more people were hospitalized today, but the number of people who are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped by seven, bringing the count back down under 300.
The two who were hospitalized today were both under 60-years-old.
I learned today that one of the patients currently hospitalized is a friend, who was admitted on Sunday. She is under 60 years of age as well.
The cumulative total of COVID-19 patients in the ICU has not changed since Saturday.
13 more residents of NH lost their lives during the 24-hour period covered by this report because of COVID. Over the past week, NH has lost an average of 9 people per day.

• • • • • • Communities • • • • • •

NH DHHS says that the new cases reside in Rockingham (97), Strafford (58), Hillsborough County other than Manchester and Nashua (55), Merrimack (45), Belknap (33), Cheshire (13), Carroll (10), Grafton (9), Sullivan (5), and Coos (3) counties, and in the cities of Manchester (50) and Nashua (27). The county of residence is being determined for twelve new cases.
Active cases:
- An additional 898 people were reported as “recovered” today; these are reflected in today’s changes.
- Two communities — Exeter and Farmington — dropped by enough cases to bring them under 50 active cases.
- There are 25 NH communities with more than 50 active cases. Between them, these communities have 3,629 active cases, accounting for 62% of all active cases.
  - Of the 25 communities with more than 50 active cases, six have more today than they had yesterday, with 19 have fewer active cases.
  - Of communities with less than 50 cases, 18 communities added to their active cases, and 76 had fewer active cases.
- Manchester, Nashua, and Concord are the only communities with more active cases than Salem.
Cumulative Cases
- There are now 109 communities that have had 50 or more cases, and 78 that have had 100 or more.
- Two more communities — New London and East Kingston — now have 50 or more total cases.
- 18 communities have 5 or more new cases than they had yesterday.
- Only Manchester, Nashua, and Concord have had more total cases than Salem.

• • • • • • DIAGNOSTIC TESTS IN NH • • • • • •

New positive cases by my math (Total of today’s cases minus previous total): 390
New positive cases per DHHS: 417
- 368 PCR tests
- 220 Antigen tests
Children under 18 in new cases: 32
Total positive cases in NH: 38,902
Percentage of today’s tests that are positive per DHHS: 5.8%
Total PCR test results reported today (Positive results plus negative results): 3,344
The daily average of diagnostic (PCR) tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 2,195
New negative results reported today: 2,954
Total negative cases in NH: 456,118

• • • • • • ROCKINGHAM COUNTY • • • • • •

Total cases in Rockingham County: 9,676
New cases in Rockingham County: 97
Rockingham County: New cases per 100K residents: 31.3
Rockingham County 1-week average per 100K residents: 52.1
Rockingham County Positivity Rate: 9.8%
Percent of all cases from Rockingham County: 24.9%
Percent of all cases from either Hillsborough County or Rockingham County: 65%

• • • • • • ACTIVE CASES • • • • • •

Active cases in NH: 5,888
Active cases in Rockingham County: 1,378
Percent of NH’s active cases that are in Rockingham County: 23.4%

• • • • • • OTHER TEST RESULTS • • • • • •

New antibody tests: 56
Total antibody tests (No break downs of positive vs. negative): 34,465
The daily average of antibody tests reported from 7 days ago to today: 48

• • • • • • CHANGES BY AGES • • • • • •
(Shown: Total infections, percentage of all infections, and increase since yesterday.)

0-9: 1597 = 4% (+9).
10-19: 3799 = 10% (+30).
20-29: 7469 = 19% (+71).
30-39: 5809 = 15% (+73).
40-49: 5188 = 13% (+49).
50-59: 6238 = 16% (+68).
60-69: 4271 = 11% (+48).
70-79: 2257 = 6% (+25).
80+: 2239 = 6% (+20).
Unknown: 35 = 0% (+-3).

• • • • • • RECOVERED IN NH • • • • • •

Announced today: 898
Total Recovered: 32,324
Percentage of diagnosed cases that have recovered: 83.1%

• • • • • • HOSPITALIZATIONS IN NH • • • • • •

New people hospitalized from NH: 2
Currently hospitalized: 298
Total hospitalized patients: 894
Percentage of those who have been infected that have been hospitalized: 2.3%
Total admitted to ICU: 297
New hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 0
Total hospitalized patients from Rockingham County: 209

• • • • • • DEATHS IN NH • • • • • •

Lives lost today: 13
Persons over 60 years of age who died today: 13
Persons under 60 years of age who died today: 0
Total fatalities in NH associated with COVID-19: 690
NH Residents diagnosed with COVID-19 that died: 1.77%
Lives lost in Rockingham County today: 0
Total lives lost in Rockingham County: 129

These are not simply numbers. We must not forget that these are all someone’s husband or wife, mother or father, sister or brother, son or daughter, friend or neighbor.

Why do I wish people “Happy Holidays?” Because from 1 November to 15 January there are approximately 29 holidays observed by 7 of the world’s major religions. And I don’t think mine are the only ones that count.
~ Unknown

Hello, Salem!

Happy holidays! If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful one. If you don’t, have a great day. Whatever you do, be smart.

NH DHHS has announced that they will not be giving an update tomorrow in observance of Christmas. NH DHHS has not caught up from Thanksgiving, so I anticipate that the numbers will be odd for a little while.

For the first day since I started these updates, 265 days ago, I am not going to issue an update tomorrow. In fact, I am actually going to TRY to have a Facebook-free day.

As always, I hope that you will stay safe, and always, be kind.

Happy Holidays!

~Bonnie

Compiled by Bonnie Wright, based on data obtained from NH DHHS.

This video was posted almost two months ago. Things have changed in that time. On October 2, US deaths were 1,035,451, according to the video. (My records say 1,033,174 per WorldOmeter.) WorldOMeter now says the global death rate is 1,446,889, an increase of 413,715 in less than two months. Just please remember that there is a lot more between COVID->Death vs. COVID->Recovery. More and more, long-haulers are making the news, as are other consequences of COVID-19.

From the beginning of the pandemic, it took 43 days before NH reached it’s first 1,000 confirmed diagnoses. It took 31 days to go from 10,000 to 18,000. In another 5 days, we added another 2,000.